I must have a soft spot for weepy chick-flick dramas. I mean, the critics would never admit to liking something like this, but I really enjoyed it. I’d never have gone with the boys to see it, but 50% of my housemates are female, and they won.

The films I like all fall somehow into one or more of the following categories: They either make me laugh, make me think, or make me feel good. I need a mix of all three types though — if I’ve had too much of one particular one, I don’t enjoy those as much for a while.

But ‘feel good’ movies are like drinking hot chocolate on a cold day. A film like A Knight’s Tale has some humour, but a large part of it is the feel-good factor. Ladder 49 is like this.

There’s simple, honest, hard-working people living a real — if sugar-sweet — life. There’s no villain. I guess I enjoy a movie like this for the same reason I enjoy Legally Blonde or Ocean’s Eleven. It’s a pure fantasy, but it’s a pleasant one. Baltimore firefighters a big happy fraternity? Probably not, but it’s nice to imagine a life where no problems lasts longer than the time it takes to put out a fire.

Mike

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